Information device and computer product

ABSTRACT

A transmission-side cellular phone sends, via a mail server, to a reception-side cellular phone a face image and its attribute information as an attachment to an email. The reception-side cellular phone extracts the face image from the email, selects face part images from among a plurality of face part images stored in the face part storing section, combines the face image and the selected face parts, and displays the combined image. The reception-side cellular phone selects the face part images based on, for example, a number of times a telephone call from a person was not attended in a predetermined period.

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/346,177,filed Jan. 17, 2003, now pending.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information device such as acellular phone having a function for combining images.

2. Description of the Related Art

Portable telephone (hereinafter “cellular phone”) with built-in camerahas appeared in the market. This cellular phone has a possibility ofbeing able to realize advanced communications that the cellular phoneswithout the built-in camera have not been able to realize. As a result,it is expected that the cellular phones with built-in camera will becomemore popular and widely used.

The cellular phone with a built-in camera has a function fortransmitting an image, for example, a photograph of a face of a person,to another cellular phone as an attachment to an email. Some cellularphones also have a function to process the image, for example, tocompresses or trim the image. The original image or the processes imagemay be used as an idle image (i.e., an image displayed on the idlescreen).

When an image of face of one person is transmitted to the other person,it is possible to convey the face or expressions on the face of the oneperson to the other person, and realize better communications betweenthe users. However, since the data quantity of the image handled by thecellular phones is high, usually about 8 KB, it exerts a great burden onthe communication lines, and sometimes real-timeness of thecommunications is lost.

Moreover, as the data quantity of the image exerts a great burden on themail servers, some Internet providers even tend to prohibit transmissionof images among the users. As a result, the users loose the opportunityto communicate with each other using images.

Furthermore, using of an illustration or an image of a face as the idleimage was know even before a cellular phone with a built-in cameraappeared in the market. In other words, the advantages of the built-incamera in the cellular phone have not been fully utilized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, a face image and aplurality of face part images corresponding to facial expressions areobtained; a facial expression is determined; and the face image and theface part images corresponding to the facial expression are combined toobtain a combined face image. The combined face image may be displayedon a display or transmitter to other person.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a first face imageand a second face image is obtained; a method for combining isdetermined; and the first face image and the second face image arecombined based on the method for combining to obtain a combined faceimage. The combined face image may be displayed on a display ortransmitter to other person.

According to still another aspect of the present invention a first faceimage and a second face image are obtained; a similarity between thefirst face image and the second face image and a relationship betweenthe persons of the first face image and the second face image determinedfrom the similarity are determined; and the similarity, the relationshipor both the similarity and the relationship is displayed on a display.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention are specifically set forth in or will become apparent from thefollowing detailed descriptions of the invention when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a structure of a cellular phone according to one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C explain how a portrait is prepared by the cellularphone shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows one example of a system for realizing communications usingthe cellular phone shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows storage contents of a portrait storing section shown inFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows storage contents of a face part storing section shown inFIG. 3;

FIG. 6 shows storage contents of a call register storing section shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 shows storage contents of an expression assignment informationstoring section shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 shows an example of processes executed by a reception-sidecellular phone shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 shows another example of processes executed by the reception-sidecellular phone shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 10 explains how a portrait is prepared;

FIG. 11 shows another example of a system for realizing communicationsusing the cellular phone shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 shows an example of processes performed by a transmission-sidecellular phone shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 shows an example of processes performed by a reception-sidecellular phone shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 shows still another example of communications performed usingthe cellular phone shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 shows an example of processes performed by a transmission-sidecellular phone shown in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 shows still another example of communications performed usingthe cellular phone shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 17 shows an example of processes performed by a transmission-sidecellular phone shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 shows an example of processes performed by a reception-sidecellular phone shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 19 shows a structure of a cellular phone according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 shows an example of processes performed by a portrait combiningsection shown in FIG. 19; and

FIG. 21 shows an example of processes performed by a relationshipestimator shown in FIG. 19.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments of the cellular phone according to the presentinvention are explained in detail below by referring to the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 shows a structure of a cellular phone 1, as an example of aninformation device, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. The cellular phone 1 comprises of a camera 10, a display 11,a microphone 12, a speaker 13, an image processing section 14, a voiceprocessing unit 15, a communications section 16, and an antenna 17.

The image processing section 14 includes a portrait preparing unit 14A.This portrait preparing unit 14A receives an image (see FIG. 2A) of aface of a person (hereinafter “face image”) photographed by the camera10, converts the image into binary data, for example, and projects thedata on a two dimensional coordinate system. Based on the projecteddata, the image processing section 14 determines: position of theoverall face (hereinafter “total face), position of the eyes, the nose,the mouth, the hair, and the like (hereinafter “face parts”) in thetotal face (see FIG. 2B), color of the total face, and color of thehair. Finally, based on this information, the image processing section14 prepares a portrait of the face (hereinafter “portrait”) (see FIG.2C). When preparing the portrait, a standard color is used for the totalface, and another standard color is used for the hair. The portrait ofdesired size may be prepared. It should be noted that, any method otherthan using the projected data may be used to prepare the portrait.

The processed face image is then transmitted to, for example, othercellular phone via the communications section 16 and the antenna 17.

Thus, in the cellular phone 1 of the present invention, the face imageobtained by the camera 10 is not transmitted as it is, but the faceimage is processes to obtain a portrait and the portrait is transmitted.Since the portrait is used, it is possible to realize communicationsbetween the users with a simpler and slick hardware and at an extremelyhigh speed.

FIG. 3 shows one example of a system for realizing communications usingthe cellular phone shown in FIG. 1. This system comprises of atransmission-side cellular phone 20 and a reception-side. cellular phone30 connected via a mail server 40.

The transmission-side cellular phone 20 comprises of a portraitpreparing section 21 that prepares a portrait and its attributeinformation based on the face image photographed by the camera 10, aportrait transmitting section 22 that transmits the portrait and theattribute information to the mail server 40, and a calling section 23that makes a telephone call to the reception-side cellular phone 30. Theattribute information includes the position of the total face, thepositions of the face parts, the color of the total face, and the colorof the hair, and the like. It is preferable that, when preparing aportrait, the portrait preparing section 21 prepares a portrait of apredetermined size.

The reception-side cellular phone 30 comprises of a portrait receivingsection 31 that receives the portrait and the attribute information fromthe mail server 40, a portrait storing section 32 that stores theportrait and the attribute information, a face part storing section 33that stores the face parts of the portrait prepared to change theexpression of the portrait, a call register storing section 34 thatstores the record of calls received (hereinafter “call reception”) fromthe transmission-side cellular phone 20, an expression assignmentinformation storing section 35 that stores expression assignmentinformation that indicates to which expression the expression of theportrait is to be changed, a portrait changing section 36 that changesthe portrait stored in the portrait storing section 32, a portraitoutput section 37 that outputs to the display 11 the changed portrait,and a call receiving section 38 that receives a call from thetransmission-side cellular phone 20.

The functions of sections of the transmission-side cellular phone 20 andthe reception-side cellular phone 30 may be realized by hardware orsoftware (i.e., computer programs) or both. When the functions arerealized using software, a recording medium such as a semiconductormemory may be provided to store the software.

As shown in FIG. 4, the portrait storing section 32 stores the portraitand the attribute information in correlation with the telephone numberof the sender (i.e., the transmission-side cellular phone 20).

As shown in FIG. 5, the face part storing section 33 stores expressionsof the face parts in correlation with condition of the expression(hereinafter “expression assignment information”). The expressionassignment information is, for example, small anger, large anger,surprise, and the like.

An angry face of a person may be represented with the eyes turned upwardat the outer corners, and the mouth turned down at the corners.Therefore, if the expression assignment information is anger, then aimages of eyes turned upward at the outer corners, and image of mouthturned down at the corners are stored in the face part storing section33 in correlation with the expression assignment information of “anger”.

The face parts stored in the face part storing section 33 have sizesthat match with the size of the portrait. The face parts withexpressions may be prepared somewhere else and may be stored at the mailserver 40. And, the transmission-side cellular phone 20 may be made todownload the face parts.

The call register storing section 34 stores the call registerinformation. As shown in FIG. 6, the call register information includesa telephone number of the caller, the time at which the call wasreceived (hereinafter “call reception time”), and information that showswhether the call was attended (hereafter “absence or response”).

As shown in FIG. 7, the expression assignment information storingsection 35 stores number of times a call from a person was not attended(hereinafter “number of times of absence”) and the expression assignmentinformation in correlated manner.

A case is explained here in which expressions of the portrait arechanged according to the number of times of absence using the flowchartsin FIG. 8 and FIG. 9. The process shown in these figures is performed bythe reception-side cellular phone 30.

The transmission-side cellular phone 20 transmits a portrait andcorresponding attribute information to the mail server 40 and theportrait receiving section 31 of the reception-side cellular phone 30receives the portrait and the attribute information from the mail server40 (step ST1). It is assumed here that the portrait is a face image ofthe user or owner of the transmission-side cellular phone 20. Theportrait receiving section 31 of the reception-side cellular phone 30also obtains the telephone number of the transmission-side cellularphone 20 (step ST2). Finally, the portrait, the attribute information,and the telephone number are stored in the portrait storing section 32(step ST3).

When a call is received from the transmission-side cellular phone 20,the reception-side cellular phone 30 obtains the telephone number of thetransmission-side cellular phone 20 (see step ST4 in FIG. 9). Theportrait changing section 36 extracts, from the portrait storing section32, the portrait and the attribute information relating to the telephonenumber obtained (step ST5). In other words, a portrait of the caller isobtained based on the telephone number.

Next, the portrait changing section 36 obtains information, from thecall register storing section 34, on how many times the call from thetransmission-side cellular phone 20 was not attended during apredetermined period (for example, two hours) (see step ST6). Then theportrait changing section 36 obtains expression assignment information,from the expression assignment information storing section 35, relatingto the number of times the call was not attended (step ST7).

Next, the portrait changing section 36 obtains face parts withexpressions relating to the expression assignment information from theface parts storing section 33 (step ST8). Then the portrait changingsection 36 changes the portrait obtained via the mail server 40 bycombining the face parts with expressions with the portrait (step ST9).Finally, the portrait output section 37 outputs the changed portrait tothe display 11 where the portrait is displayed (step ST10).

As a result, for example, if the telephone call from a caller is secondtime in two hours, and the owner of the receiver has not attended thefirst telephone call, then a face image of the caller that is smiling isdisplayed on the display of the receiver. If the telephone call from acaller is third time in two hours, and the owner of the receiver has notattended the previous two telephone calls, then a face image of thecaller that is little angry is displayed on the display of the receiver.If the telephone call from a caller is fourth time in two hours, and theowner of the receiver has not attended the previous three telephonecalls, then, as shown in FIG. 10, a face image of the caller that isangry is displayed on the display of the receiver. Thus, the receiverwill know the feelings of the caller for not attending the previoustelephone calls which realizes advanced communications between theusers.

FIG. 11 shows another example of a system for realizing communicationsusing the cellular phone shown in FIG. 1. This system comprises of atransmission-side cellular phone 20A and a reception-side cellular phone30A connected via the mail server 40.

In the system shown in FIG. 3, the reception-side cellular phone 30decides the expression assignment information itself based on the numberof calls that have not been attended. On the other hand, in the systemshown in FIG. 11, the transmission-side cellular phone 20A sends theexpression assignment information to the reception-side cellular phone30A.

The transmission-side cellular phone 20A comprises of the portraitpreparing section 21 that prepares a portrait and its attributeinformation based on the face image photographed by the camera 10, aportrait storing section 24 that stores the portrait and the attributeinformation, a mail preparing section 25 that prepares a mail andattaches the portrait and the attribute information to the email, a mailtransmitting section 26 that transmits the email to the mail server 40,an expression assignment information obtaining section 27 that obtainsthe expression assignment information through interaction with the user,and the calling section 23 that sends a call signal (i.e., makes atelephone call) to the reception-side cellular phone 30A and embeds theexpression assignment information into the call signal. The attributeinformation includes the position of the total face, the positions ofthe face parts, the color of the total face, and the color of the hair,and the like. It is preferable that, when preparing a portrait, theportrait preparing section 21 prepares a portrait of a predeterminedsize.

The reception-side cellular phone 30A comprises a mail receiving section39 that receives a mail with a portrait attached to it from the mailserver 40, the face part storing section 33 that stores the face partsof the portrait prepared to change the expression of the portrait, theportrait changing section 36 that changes expressions of the portraitattached to the mail, the portrait output section 37 that outputs theportrait to the display 11, and the call receiving section 38 thatreceives a call signal with the expression assignment informationembedded in it from the transmission-side cellular phone 20A. The callreceiving section 38 extracts the expression assignment informationembedded in the call signal.

The functions of sections of the transmission-side cellular phone 20Aand the reception-side cellular phone 30A may be realized by hardware orsoftware (i.e., computer programs) or both. When the functions arerealized using software, a recording medium such as a semiconductormemory may be provided to store the software. The face part storingsection 33 stores the information shown in FIG. 5.

Same reference numerals have been attached to those sections in FIG. 3and FIG. 11 that perform same or similar functions or have same orsimilar configurations.

The transmission-side cellular phone 20A performs the process shown inFIG. 12, while the reception-side cellular phone 30A performs theprocess shown in FIG. 13.

As shown in FIG. 12, the mail preparing section 25 of thetransmission-side cellular phone 20A reads the portrait stored in theportrait storing section 24, prepares the email, and attaches theportrait to the email (step SS1). Generally, a portrait of the owner ofthe transmission-side cellular phone 20A is stored in the portraitstoring section 24. Next, the expression assignment informationobtaining section 27 obtains expression assignment information byinteraction with the user or the owner of the transmission-side cellularphone 20A (step SS2).

Then, the mail transmitting section 26 transmits the email (with theportrait and the attribute information attached) to the mail server 40(step SS3). The mail preparing section 25 may be made to embed theattribute information into the header of the email instead of attachingthe attribute information.

Next, the calling section 23 transmits a call signal with the expressionassignment information embedded to the reception-side cellular phone 30A(step SS4). The expression assignment information may be embedded into aheader of the call signal. Thus, the reception-side cellular phone 30Acomes to know that the transmission-side cellular phone 20A has sent amail to it.

Thus, the portrait and attribute information are transmitted from thetransmission-side cellular phone 20A to the reception-side cellularphone 30A in the form of an email. On the other hand, the expressionassignment information is transmitted from the transmission-sidecellular phone 20A to the reception-side cellular phone 30A through thecall signal.

When a call signal is received by the call receiving section 38 of thereception-side cellular phone 30A, the call receiving section 38extracts the expression assignment information embedded in the callsignal (step SS5 in FIG. 13). The mail receiving section 39 receives amail from the mail server 40 and sends the portrait and the attributeinformation attached to the email to the portrait changing section 36(step SS6).

Then, the portrait changing section 36 obtains, from the face partsstoring section 33, the face parts with expressions relating to theexpression assignment information (step SS7). Then the portrait changingsection 36 changes the portrait obtained via the email by combining theface parts with expressions with the portrait (step ST8). Finally, theportrait output section 37 outputs the changed portrait to the display11 where the portrait is displayed (step SS9).

As a result, for example, if the caller is in happy mood, he can selectexpression assignment information that will display a face image that issmiling on the display of the cellular phone of the receiver. Thus, thereceiver will know the feelings of the caller which realizes advancedcommunications between the users.

It has been mentioned above to embed the expression assignmentinformation into the call signal, however, the expression assignmentinformation may be attached to an email. Moreover, the expressionassignment information may be embedded into a header of the email alongwith the attribute information.

FIG. 14 shows still another example of a system for realizingcommunications using the cellular phone shown in FIG. 1. This systemcomprises of a transmission-side cellular phone 20B and a reception-sidecellular phone 30B connected via the mail server 40.

In the system shown in FIG. 11, the transmission-side cellular phone 20Asends the expression assignment information to the reception-sidecellular phone 30A and the reception-side cellular phone 30A changes theportrait of based on the expression assignment information. On the otherhand, in the system shown in FIG. 14, the transmission-side cellularphone 20B changes the portrait based on the expression assignmentinformation and sends the changed portrait to the reception-sidecellular phone 30B for displaying.

The transmission-side cellular phone 20B comprises of the portraitpreparing section 21 that prepares a portrait and its attributeinformation based on the face image photographed by the camera 10, theportrait storing section 24 that stores the portrait and the attributeinformation, a face part storing section 28 that stores the face partsof the portrait prepared to change the expression of the portrait, theexpression assignment information obtaining section 27 that obtains theexpression assignment information through interaction with the user, aportrait changing section 29 that changes the portrait, the mailpreparing section 25 that prepares an email and attaches the portrait tothe email, the mail transmitting section 26 that transmits the email tothe reception-side cellular phone 30B via the mail server 40, and thecalling section 23 that makes a telephone call to the reception-sidecellular phone 30B.

The reception-side cellular phone 30B comprises of the mail receivingsection 39 that receives the email from the mail server 40, the portraitoutput section 37 that outputs the portrait to the display 11, and thecall receiving section 38 that receives a notification from thetransmission-side cellular phone 20B that an email has been send to thereception-side cellular phone 30B.

The functions of sections of the transmission-side cellular phone 20Band the reception-side cellular phone 30B may be realized by hardware orsoftware (i.e., computer programs) or both. When the functions arerealized using software, a recording medium such as a semiconductormemory may be provided to store the software. The face part storingsection 28 stores the information shown in FIG. 5.

Same reference numerals have been attached to those sections in FIG. 3,FIG. 11, and FIG. 14 that perform same or similar functions or have sameor similar configurations.

The transmission-side cellular phone 20B performs the process shown inFIG. 15.

The portrait changing section 29 reads the portrait stored in theportrait storing section 24 (step SK1). Generally, a portrait of theowner of the transmission-side cellular phone 20B is stored in theportrait storing section 24. Next, the expression assignment informationobtaining section 27 obtains the expression assignment information byinteraction with the user or the owner of the transmission-side cellularphone 20B and supplies the expression assignment information to theportrait changing section 29 (step SK2).

Then, the portrait changing section 29 obtains, from the face partstoring section 28, the face parts relating to the expression assignmentinformation (step SK3). Next, the portrait changing section 29 changesthe portrait by combining the face parts (step SK4).

Next, the portrait changing section 29 supplies the portrait to the mailpreparing section 25, and the mail preparing section 25 prepares anemail and attaches the portrait to the email (step SK5). The mailtransmitting section 26 transmits the email with the portrait attachedto it to the mail server 40 (step SK6). Finally, the calling section 23sends a call signal to the reception-side cellular phone 30B to informthe reception-side cellular phone 30B that an email has been sent (stepSK7).

The mail receiving section of the reception-side cellular phone 30Breceives the email with the portrait attached to it from the mail server40, extracts the portrait from the email and supplies the portrait tothe portrait output section 37. Finally, the portrait output section 37outputs the portrait to the display 11 where the portrait is displayed.

As a result, for example, if the caller is in happy mood, he can selectexpression assignment information so that a face image that is smilingis sent to the receiver as a mail attachment and displayed on thedisplay of the cellular phone of the receiver. Thus, the receiver willknow the feelings of the caller which realizes advanced communicationsbetween the users.

FIG. 16 shows still another example of a system for realizingcommunications using the cellular phone shown in FIG. 1. This systemcomprises of a transmission-side cellular phone 20C and a reception-sidecellular phone 30C connected via the mail server 40.

In the system shown in FIG. 16, the transmission-side cellular phone 20Csends face parts relating to desired expression assignment informationto the reception-side cellular phone 30C via an email and thereception-side cellular phone 30C changes the portrait of based on theexpression assignment information and displays the portrait.

The transmission-side cellular phone 20C comprises of the face partstoring section 28 that stores the face parts of the portrait preparedto change the expression of the portrait, the expression assignmentinformation obtaining section 27 that obtains the expression assignmentinformation through interaction with the user, the mail preparingsection 25 that prepares an email and attaches the face parts to theemail, the mail transmitting section 26 that transmits the email to thereception-side cellular phone 30C via the mail server 40, and thecalling section 23 that makes a telephone call to the reception-sidecellular phone 30C.

The reception-side cellular phone 30C comprises of the mail receivingsection 39 that receives the email from the mail server 40, the portraitstoring section 32 that stores the portrait and corresponding attributeinformation downloaded from the transmission-side cellular phone 20C viathe mail server 40, the portrait changing section 36 that changes theportrait, the portrait output section 37 that outputs the portrait tothe display 11, and the call receiving section 38 that receives anotification from the transmission-side cellular phone 20C that an emailhas been send to the reception-side cellular phone 30C.

The functions of sections of the transmission-side cellular phone 20Cand the reception-side cellular phone 30C may be realized by hardware orsoftware (i.e., computer programs) or both. When the functions arerealized using software, a recording medium such as a semiconductormemory may be provided to store the software.

The face part storing section 28 stores the information shown in FIG. 5.Moreover, the portrait storing section 32 stores the information shownin FIG. 4.

Same reference numerals have been attached to those sections in FIG. 3,FIG. 11, FIG. 14, and FIG. 16 that perform same or similar functions orhave same or similar configurations.

The transmission-side cellular phone 20C performs the process shown inFIG. 17, while the reception-side cellular phone 30C performs theprocess shown in FIG. 18.

As shown in FIG. 17, the expression assignment information obtainingsection 27 obtains expression assignment information by interaction withthe user or the owner of the transmission-side cellular phone 20C (stepSA1). Then, the expression assignment information obtaining section 27obtains face parts, from the face part storing section 28, relating tothe expression assignment information and supplies the face parts to themail preparing section 25 (step SA2). The mail preparing section 25prepares an email and attaches the face parts to the email (step SA3).Next, the mail transmitting section 26 transmits the email to thereception-side cellular phone 30C via the mail server 40 (step SA4).Finally, the calling section 23 sends a call signal to thereception-side cellular phone 30C to inform the reception-side cellularphone 30C that an email has been sent (step SA5).

The mail receiving section 39 of the reception-side cellular phone 30Creceives the email with the face parts attached to it from the mailserver 40 (step SA6) and extracts the face parts from the email (stepSA7). Next, the portrait changing section 36 obtains the telephonenumber of the transmission-side cellular phone 20C (step SA8). Next, theportrait changing section 36 obtains, from the portrait storing section32, the portrait and the attribute information relating to the telephonenumber of the transmission-side cellular phone 20C (step SA9).

Then, the portrait changing section 36 changes the portrait by combiningthe face parts with expressions with the portrait stored in the portraitstoring section 32 (step SA10). Finally, the portrait output section 37outputs the changed portrait to the display 11 where the portrait isdisplayed (step SA11).

As a result, for example, if the caller is in happy mood, he can selectexpression assignment information so that face parts that will display aface image that is smiling is sent to the receiver as a mail attachment.Thus, the receiver will know the feelings of the caller which realizesadvanced communications between the users.

FIG. 19 shows a structure of a cellular phone 99, as an example of aninformation device, according to another embodiment of the presentinvention.

The cellular phone 99 comprises of the camera 10, the display 11, aportrait preparing section 100 that prepares a portrait and attributeinformation of the portrait based on the face image photographed by thecamera 10, a portrait storing section 101 that stores the portrait andthe attribute information, a portrait output section 102 that outputsthe portrait stored in the portrait storing section 101 or the portraitprepared by the portrait preparing section 100 (hereinafter “twoportraits”) to the display 11, a portrait combining section 103 thatcombines the two portraits, and a relationship estimator 104 thatestimates the relationship between the persons of the portraits based onthe two portraits.

The functions of sections of the cellular phone 99 may be realized byhardware or software (i.e., computer programs) or both. When thefunctions are realized using software, a recording medium such as asemiconductor memory may be provided to store the software.

FIG. 20 shows an example of processes performed by the portraitcombining section 103. This process starts when the user or the owner ofthe cellular phone 99 issues a command to start the process.

The portrait combining section 103 first selects two portraits to becombined, through interaction with the user (step SB1). The portraitcombining section 103 selects two portraits to be combined from amongthe portraits prepared by the portrait preparing section 100 and/or theportraits stored in the portrait storing section 101.

Next, the portrait combining section 103 selects a method for combining(hereinafter “combining method”) the portraits through interaction withthe user. Following methods may be considered as the methods forcombining the two portraits A and B:

-   (1) use the eyes and the mouth of the portrait A and use the total    face and other face parts of the portrait B (hereinafter “method    M1”),-   (2) based on random numbers determine which parts of the portrait A    and B are to be used (hereinafter “method M2”),-   (3) use the position information of the total face and the face    parts of the portrait A, use the shapes of the total face and the    face parts of the portrait B (hereinafter “method M3”),-   (4) use an intermediate value of the face parts of the portrait A    and B (hereinafter “method M4”).

The portrait combining section 103 selects one of these combiningmethods through an interaction with the user. It should be noted that acombining method other than the combining methods mentioned above may beused.

Next, the portrait combining section 103 decides whether the method M1has been selected (step SB3). If it is decided that the method M1 hasbeen selected, the portrait combining section 103 determines from whichportrait the total face is to be used and from which portrait the faceparts are to be used, through interaction with the user (step SB4).

If the method M1 has not been selected at the step SB3, then it isdecided whether the method M2 has been selected (step SB5). If it isdecided that the method M2 has been selected, the portrait combiningsection 103 determines from which portrait the total face is to be used,and from which portrait each face part is to be used, by generating 1 or2 at random (step SB6).

If the method M2 has not been selected at the step SB5, then it isdecided whether the method M3 has been selected (step SB7). If it isdecided that the method M3 has been selected, the portrait combiningsection 103 determines from which portrait the position information ofthe total face and the face parts is to be used, and from which portraitthe shape information of the total face and the face parts is to beused, through interaction with the user (step SB8).

If the method M3 has not been selected at the step SB7, then it willmean that selected method is M4. In this case, the portrait combiningsection 103 calculates the intermediate value of the two shapes and thepositions respectively for each of the total face and each face part,thereby to determine the total face and each face part to be pasted toform the composite portrait (step SB9).

Finally, the portrait combining section 103 combines the parts selectedat step SB4 or SB6 or SB8 or SB9 to obtain a changed portrait (stepSB10). The changed portrait may be displayed on the display 11 or it maybe transmitted to other person.

It is mentioned above to combine parts of two portraits to obtain achanged portrait but parts of more than two portraits may be combined toobtain two or more portraits.

Thus, according to the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 20, partsof two different portraits can be combined as desired by the user. As aresult, if, for example, portraits of a man and a woman (say husband andwife) may be combined to guess a face of would be child of the two. Withthis arrangement, it is possible to realize advanced communicationsbetween the users.

FIG. 21 shows an example of processes performed by the relationshipestimator 104. This process starts when the user or the owner of thecellular phone 99 issues a command to start the process.

The relationship estimator 104 selects two portraits through interactionwith the user (step SC1). In other words, the relationship estimator 104selects two portraits to carry out the estimation from among theportraits prepared by the portrait preparing section 100 and theportraits stored in the portrait storing section 101.

Next, the relationship estimator 104 obtains the attribute informationof the portraits (i.e., the position of the total face, the positions ofthe face parts, the color of the total face, and the color of the hair)from the portrait preparing section 100 and the portrait storing section101 (step SC2).

Next, the relationship estimator 104 calculates respective featurevalues of the portraits based on the attribute information of theportraits (where what kinds of feature values are to be used are set inadvance), and calculates values of the parameters for estimating therelationship defined by difference values and ratios of the calculatedfeature values (step SC3).

For example, the relationship estimator 104 calculates feature valuessuch as a distance between the two eyes, a size of a triangle formed bythe two eyes and the mouth, a distance between a straight line formed bycombining the two ears and a straight line formed by combining the twoeyes, sizes of the eyes, a ratio of the size of the eye to the size ofthe ear, and the like. Then, the relationship estimator 104 calculatesvalues of the parameters for estimating the relationship defined by thedifference values and the ratios of the calculated feature values.

Next, the relationship estimator 104 substitutes the calculatedparameters into the similarity calculation expression prepared inadvance, thereby to calculate the similarity between the two portraitsselected to estimate the relationship (step SC4).

Next, the relationship estimator 104 specifies the relationshipcorresponding to the calculated similarity. For example, when therelationship is within a certain range of similarity, the two persons ofthe portraits selected to carry out the estimation are defined such thatthe portraits represent the likeness between the parent(s) and thechild, represent the likeness between the brothers, represent thelikeness between the cousins, or represent no likeness at all. Based onthis, the relationship estimator 104 specifies the relationship betweenthe two persons corresponding to the calculated similarity.

Finally, the relationship estimator 104 makes the display 11 display thespecified relationship.

According to the flowchart shown in FIG. 21, the user can determine, forexample, similarity between the portraits of two persons. With thisarrangement, it is possible to realize advanced communications betweenthe users.

Instead of outputting the relationship between the two persons in theexpression form of the likeness between the parent(s) and the child, itis also possible to output the calculated similarity itself.

Although a cellular phone is taken as an example of the informationdevice, the present invention may be realized on any other informationdevice such as a portable computer or a personal digital assistant(PDA).

As explained above, according to the portable electronic device of thepresent invention, it is possible to change the expression of theportrait by using the portrait having a reduced quantity of datagenerated based on the face image. With this arrangement, it is possibleto realize advanced communications between the users.

According to the portable electronic device of the present invention, itis possible to generate, for example, the face of a child born betweenMr. A and Ms. B by using the portraits having a reduced quantity of datagenerated based on the face images. With this arrangement, it ispossible to realize advanced communications between the users.

According to the portable electronic device of the present invention, itis possible to estimate, for example, a relationship between Mr. A andMs. B by using the portraits having a reduced quantity of data generatedbased on the face images. With this arrangement, it is possible torealize advanced communications between the users.

Although the invention has been described with respect to a specificembodiment for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims arenot to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying allmodifications and alternative constructions that may occur to oneskilled in the art which fairly fall within the basic teaching hereinset forth.

1. An information device comprising: an image obtaining unit thatobtains a first face image and a second face image; a method determiningunit that determines a method for combining from a plurality of methods;and an image combining unit that combines the first face image and thesecond face image based on the method for combining to obtain a combinedface image, wherein the plurality of methods include at least one of amethod of using a total face or face parts, a method of using randomnumbers to determine which parts of a face image are to be used, amethod of using a position or a shape of a total face and face parts ofa face image, and a method of using an intermediate value of face partsof a face image.
 2. The information device according to claim 1, furthercomprising a communications unit that transmits the first face image,the second face image, or the combined face image to other informationdevice.
 3. The information device according to claim 1, furthercomprising a digital camera that acquires the first face image and thesecond face image, and the image obtaining unit obtains the first faceimage and the second face image acquired by the digital camera.
 4. Theinformation device according to claim 1, further comprising a memorythat stores the first face image and the second face image acquired viaa communications line and the image obtaining unit obtains the firstface image and the second face image from the memory.
 5. The informationdevice according to claim 1, further comprising: a digital camera thatacquires the first face image; and a memory that stores the second faceimage acquired via a communications line, and the image obtaining unitobtains the first face image from the digital camera and the second faceimage from the memory.
 6. The information device according to claim 1,further comprising an operating unit with which an operator can selectthe first face image and the second face image from among a plurality offace images.
 7. The information device according to claim 1, the methodfor combining is one or more selected from group consisting of usingeyes and mouth of the first face image and using a total face and otherface parts of the second face image, using parts of the first face imageand the second face image based on generation of random numbers, using aposition information of the total face and the face parts of the firstface image, and using shapes of the total face and the face parts of thesecond face image, and using an intermediate value of the face parts ofthe first face image and the second face image.
 8. The informationdevice according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit thatdisplays the first face image, the second face image, or the combinedface image.
 9. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computerprogram containing instruction which when executed on a computer causesthe computer to perform: acquiring a first face image and a second faceimage; determining a method for combining; combining the first faceimage and the second face image based on the method for combining toobtain a combined face image; and displaying the combined face image,wherein the method includes at least one of a method of using a totalface or face parts, a method of using random numbers to determine whichparts of a face image are to be used, a method of using a position or ashape of a total face and face parts of a face image, and a method ofusing an intermediate value of face parts of a face image.